Krampus

...or System File Checker

Now you can look forward to the marathon of PLC, annual planning, Scouting for Food, Scout Sunday, Webelos recruiting, Webelos crossover, summer camp planning, high adventure planning, camp out planning, equipment clean up, fund-raising (a few of these), Courts of Honor, Eagle Courts of Honor, SMCs, BORs, MB courses, trail to first class meetings, etc. (restart heart beating)

They would if they could.

There are a ton of cheap and free tools for creating videos and promotional stuff. Heck, most middle schools and high schools have at least one class that has a project assignment to create a video or teaches these skills. Our unit's kids in A/V have done some stunning things over the years.

I don't see this really having any impact. Most units I know rely on a combination of the most recently published pamphlet and the Internet to obtain the latest requirements. In my unit we have MBCs point the scouts to the updated requirements online, print off those requirements and put them in their book and continue. This will not push scouts to use the electronic pamphlets or units move summarily to ScoutBook.

My 3rd Grade teacher taught me to break things down to a word problem: "Mr. Tahawk bought 63 bags of mulch from his local Cub Scout Pack. Each bag weighs 50 lbs. The average Cub Scout weighs 64 lbs. There are 12 boys unloading the trailer. How long will it take to unload the trailer when it stops at Mr. Tahawk's house? How many bags will the lightest boy unload? How many bags will the heaviest boy unload? How many boys will sit down and refuse to do work because it is 'too hard' or the bags are 'too heavy'? How long until the first adult has an aneurysm because it is taking too long?"

There may only be on average three bear fatalities are year, HOWEVER, there are HUNDREDS of bear attacks every year. Bear protocols should ALWAYS be followed in the back country, and not just because of bears but also coyotes, pumas/cougars (the four-legged kind) and all other types of varmints (yes, we still call them that in the Lone Star state). If you are ever in AK I'd recommend packing. Those bears are everywhere and if you are not a local you don't know where or when they will pop up. Bear spray just makes you a giant Habanaro. A shot gun at least gives you a fighting chance.

The Girl Scouts push 200 million boxes and have $700m in revenue. I don't think the council-based sales come anywhere close to that. Look at the BSA annual report. they simply don't have the money to spend on things like advertising. They're too busy over-paying their executives and spending money on other frivolous things.

Update the nomenclature: S-T-SC-FC or S-FC now.

Stosh, @@cyclops stops reading when he posts or when he reaches an answer he likes most.

No. I just pointing out the absurdity of making statements that eliminate other scenarios are possibilities. Who would have ever thought Columbine, Sandy Hook or 9/11 were possible 20 years ago? You telling me that a lunatic in a mess hall is out of the realm of possibilities? It's called a message board. That's how the game is played. People talk and offer opinions via responses.

Good question. Poor management, fixation on political issues, lack of direction, inability to develop successful solutions to key problems. In a word, leadership. See Gates thread.

Because that group of people support Gates. It is a bit like the electoral college. The populace can vote for one candidate but the electoral college can elect another. That's exactly what happened.

So you don't agree, yet the membership decline reported by BSA itself has INCREASED since 2013. It averaged 3-4% year on year normally. After the 2013 decision and last year's decision that number has more than DOUBLED. You may not agree but the facts point to the contrary. There's no pent up demand by those supporting the ban to join scouts. There IS an increase in people leaving. Oddly enough it corresponds with BSA's membership changes. Coincidence? Not likely. So now the excuse is that it (membership decline increase) would have happened anyway? That's not what many here said. Many here said the removal of the ban would bring all those people who opposed scouts on that basis alone. It hasn't happened. You don't increase membership when you tick off your largest bases of membership...which is what Gates did. Bringing it back to "leadership", Gates seems like change. He does not seem to think through its ramifications. He likes to stir the pot and that's not leadership.

We have a family that is full of techies. One family has a video producer. They do our annual recruiting videos...the boys, not the adults. The adults assist, provide technology and insights but the boys do the work. We promote them on YouTube, FB, Twitter and our website. We play them at the district recruiting night too. We had a few Kakemono displays done up with our unit logo, BSA icons, etc. It's essentially a convention booth. The boys raised the money or otherwise got donations. Have the videos display on a 40" display, Kakemonos set up, small sound system and the boys handing out fliers. I can tell you those commercials work! Pretty slick. This year the boys are working on a virtual summer camp concept....all done in Minecraft. Inventive!

If we are talking about money in a scout account that is solely from fund-raising, it belongs to the CO (not the unit). If we are talking about a scout account which holds both fund-raising money ear-marked for a specific purpose (e.g., Philmont) AND reimbursement money paid by the family for various activities (e.g., paid for January camp out but did not go so monies are credited back to the family), those are two different things. A scout fan take money with them that was raised for a specific purpose, as they can also take personal money held in a scout account.

In my experience there are units that are using the PM, those who try to use the PM, those who want to use the PM (but fail for various reasons), and those who don't think the PM is worthwhile or don't use it. Again, in my experience, those that fall in the latter category are fewer than those in the other categories. You're right, the training for the youth and adults around the PM is worthless. Were it better you'd likely have more use of it.

But action of any kind must be done 1) for the greater good, 2) for the good of the masses, not the good of a few, 3) and with proper debate and discourse. If done otherwise then you are merely continuing the same rules used by those in a minority who would seek to keep down the majority. Apply Gates' methodology of change to that of the elite rich, then as yourself the same question: Was it done fairly and for the good of the many, or just for the good of the few?

Wouldn't the simple answer be to start with the building blocks of the patrol, the leadership roles, roles of the patrol members and then bring it together with a few patrol-based activities designed to show that one person doing something is less-effective than the patrol working together? I know I am over-simplifying but that would seem like a start, no?

You made a statement inferring that if the ban was lifted the millennials and their kids would correct the 40+ years of membership losses. Not only did this year's membership loss not go up, it DOUBLED the last year's number!!! So, you can hide behind words like "change" and throw out epithets like "intellectual superiority" when someone is pointing out facts, but what you are doing is merely what the Obama administration has done for seven years. You are trying to fit YOUR view of the world by obfuscating facts to fit your view. Fact: The ban was lifted. Fact: Membership CONTINUES to go down. Fact: Millennials are NOT joining Scouts in the record numbers (or in any large number). So much for change. All this change did was to help a very small minority. Much like healthcare reform, a smaller number was helped while a bigger number got screwed. In the process quality went down...but that small group got better then they had while a VAST majority have it worse. Bravo for diluting the quality of life! Since when does one equate being a good leader with being a "successful agent of change"? Leadership is more than change. Lenin was a change agent. So was Che Guevara. So was Patrick Henry. So was MLK. These men have "change" in common. It is what makes the different which is what made them great leaders. I know no doubt Gates sees himself as the MLK of change for the good. He'd have to ask all those who were against his change how they feel about him.

Big Bend NP....same issues. Be Prepared.

Les is the real deal. BSA should work with him. Imagine him and some kids doing a show where he teaches them skills. Troops picked at random. Kids would watch that.

Right. And we now see all those people now joining scouts in droves. The rush of people to join this year must have clearly curtailed the near double-digit membership losses. Wait, that didn't happen? Surprised....not.

ROFL....

ROFL, think? Ah, might want to go back and look at the survey that was done...and then how the "leaders" voted. Please.